Author: Hovhannisian John

ARMENIA, IRAN WILLING TO DEEPEN BILATERAL RELATIONS

armradio.am
27.01.2010 15:36

President Serzh Sargsyan today received the Foreign Minister of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, Manouchehr Mottaki, who has arrived in
Armenia to participate in the 9th sitting of the Armenian-Iranian
Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation.

President Sargsyan welcomed Minister Mottaki’s visit to our
country and said he attaches great importance to the activity of
the Intergovernmental Commission. "You now that we attach great
importance to the relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. You
know that we view you as a reliable partner and a country, which
plays a pivotal role in the region. Therefore, the development
and deepening of bilateral relations proceeds from our interests,"
President Sargsyan said.

The interlocutors stressed the political will to deepen the existing
multifaceted relations between the two countries, noting that the
friendship between the two countries has a rich history and good
prospects of development.

President Sargsyan underlined that "the great work done over the past
years, as well as the implementation of joint projects in the fields of
energy and infrastructures will considerably contribute to the further
expansion of trade-economic relations and will serve as an additional
impulse for the deepening of the Armenian Iranian friendship.

During the meeting reference was made to the normalization of the
Armenian-Turkish relations, the urgent issues of security and stability
in the region, as well as the latest developments and perspectives
of settlement of the Artsakh issue.

Serzh Sargsyan expressed gratitude to the Iranian side for its balanced
position on the Karabakh issue.

ARMENIAN ARMY WILL BECOME AN EXAMPLE FOR IMITATION IN FUTURE

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.01.2010 20:57 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Today, January 27, Heritage party congratulated
all Armenian soldiers on the Day of Armenian Army.

"20 years ago Armenian Army protected inviolability of its homeland’s
borders, accomplishing the task with honour and bravery.

Today, we’re confident that joint efforts will allow Armenian Army
to become an example for imitation in future. Armenian Army is strong
enough to protect our homeland, should it become threatened," Heritage
stressed in its congratulatory speech.

ZHIRINOVSKY: I CAN’T SAY IT’S POSSIBLE TO SURRENDER KARABAKH TO AZERBAIJAN WITHOUT WAR

Yerkir
26.01.2010 12:48

Yerevan (Yerkir) – Speaking to the Russian Service of the Voice of
America, Russian Duma’s vise-speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky has said
that if Karabakh declares independence, Russia must recognize it.

"The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is so deep that I can’t
say it’s possible to surrender Karabakh to Azerbaijan without war. So
it’s necessary to look for certainly new status which is expected to
be acceptable for all sides. Azerbaijan’s government feels aggrieved
with me when I say this, but it is not me the causer of this conflict.

I am just stating obvious and clear matters as a specialist who has
lived and worked in that region," he said.

Russia has not interest to gain one-sided better hands for Armenia,
according to Vladimir Zhirinovsky. He pointed out that Russia’s
interest is to see stability in the region, so this brings some common
basis for Russia-U.S. cooperation.

ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK, ARDSHININVESTBANK AND ARMECONOMBANK ARE LEADERS BY NUMBER OF PLASTIC CARDS ISSUED IN ARMENIA IN 2009

ArmInfo
25.01.2010

ArmInfo. ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank is the leader by the number of
plastic cards issued in 2009 under the Armenian Card (ArCa) payment
system. In 2009 the bank issued 43102 cards, which make up 22,6% of
the total number of the cards issued via ArCa over the year under
review. In total, within the frames Armenian Card, 190346 plastic
cards of ArCa, VISA and MasterCard systems were issued.

Armenian Card told ArmInfo that ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank is followed
by Ardshininvestbank, which issued 23201 cards or 12,2% of total. The
third position is held by Armeconombank with 21180 cards or 11,1%
of total. ARARATBANK held the fourth position, having issued 20431
cards or 10,7% of total, the fifth place is held by Converse Bank
with 19913 cards or 10,5% of total.

The average monthly number of plastic cards issued under Armenian Card
system was about 15862 cards (in 2008 this index made up 16360 cards).

Each of the banks monthly issued 991 cards at the mean (as against
908 in 2008). The biggest number of cards issued over a month in 2009
was 5111 (by ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank), and the smallest number –
was 1 card (by Mellat Bank).

At the same time, in 2009 a total of 291 service points (bancomats
exclusive) were involved in ArCa system, in which a total of 393
POS-terminals were installed mostly by Unibank, ACBA-Credit Agricole
Bank, INECOBANK, Converse Bank, Anelik Bank. Meanwhile, in 2009 a
total of 122 new bancomats were registered in ArCa system in 2009
(as against 180 in 2008), thanks to which the number of bancomats
totaled 574 by 1 Jan 2010.

IFC HELPS INCREASE MICROFINANCE ACCESS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES IN ARMENIA

BusinessGhana
27th January 2010

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, said on Monday that it is
helping microfinance access for small businesses in Armenia’s rural
areas, promoting growth and sustainable development.

In cooperation with IFC, Inecobank is expected to strengthen its
capacity to reach Armenia’s people, most of whom have limited access
to microfinance, according to a statement released

by the IFC. IFC has introduced an innovative form of support,
performance- based grants structured in

tranches, whereby clients are rewarded for achieving development
targets.

Through a gradual, step-by-step process, IFC will release up to
700,000 dollars of performance-based grants for the bank, making more
than 71,000 new micro loans to individuals and small entrepreneurs,
mostly in rural areas of Armenia.

"With the onset of the financial crisis, microfinance proved to be
one of the most sustainable products for the bank and one of its
strategic sector priorities," said Avetis Baloyan,

Inecobank’s CEO.

IFC’s expanded cooperation with Inecobank is part IFC’s regional
crises response program. It also is in line with IFC’s strategy for
Armenia, which entails supporting the most vulnerable segments of the
population by helping microfinance institutions, according to the IFC.

SEYRAN OHANYAN: NAGORNO KARABAKH CANNOT BE PART OF AZERBAIJAN

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
25.01.2010 17:28 GMT+04:00

Armenian leadership will make every effort in achieving progress
in the Nagorno Karabakh peaceful settlement in 2010, " RA Defense
Minister Seyran Ohanyan told students and faculty of Yerevan State
University today.

According to the minister, NKR cannot be part of Azerbaijan. "In
this context, we raise three questions: the right of NKR people to
self-determination should be respected, Nagorno Karabakh should have
a land connection with Armenia and its security must be ensured by
international guarantees," defense minister stressed.

Karabakh-Azerbaijani conflict started in 1988. In response to peaceful
demands of the Armenians of Karabakh, constituted 80 per cent of the
population of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (Nagorny Karabakh),
Azerbaijan had unleashed aggression against the peaceful population. As
a result of the national-liberation war of 1991-1994 Nagorno Karabakh
Republic was proclaimed. NKR Defense Army has also established a
security zone around Nagorno Karabakh, including the 7 regions. On
May 11, 1994, agreement was reached on the cease-fire (Bishkek
Protocol). Currently, France, the United States and Russia, OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs are involved in the settlement of the conflict.

NO TANGIBLE CHANGES OBSERVED AT ARMENIAN MARKET OF MEDICINES

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2010 20:08 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Over the past two months there have not been major
shifts in prices in Armenia’s market of medicines, David Harutyunyan
, new chairman of Armenia’s State Commission for the Protection of
Economic Competition (SCPEC) told a press conference on 22 January
in Yerevan. According to David Harutyunyan, in line with the SCPEC’s
decision, the prices for some drugs have been already lowered. He also
noted, that price growth for medicines is not expected in Armenia,
as SCPEC’s recent monitoring shows.

VARTAN BOSTANJYAN OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ARMENIA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH IN 2010

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.01.2010 16:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Overcoming of the crisis by developed countries
will stimulate economic rehabilitation in Armenia, Vardan Bostanjyan
, Deputy Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs
told a press conference on January 21 in Yerevan. According to him,
international financial institutions helped to reduce the Armenian
deficit to AMD 193 billion.

According to Vardan Bostanjyan, investments inflow to Armenia will
increase in 2010, which will help to develop certain industries more
effectively than in 2009. He also noted that in 2009 there has been
decline in implementation of social programs of the government.

"The government, despite the deep crisis, managed to resolve the
existing problems of vulnerable stratas of the society," he said.

Vardan Bastanjyan was optimistic about the 1.2% economic growth,
projected by the state budget for 2010.

Vardan Bastanjyan, Deputy Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on
Economic Affairs, was born on September 9, 1949 in Yerevan. In 1971 he
graduated from the Technical Cybernetics faculty of Yerevan Polytechnic
Institute. In 1977 he was a post-graduate of the Institute of Economics
of the Siberian Department of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He is an
engineer-electrician, doctor of economics, professor.

In 1971-1974 he worked as a senior engineer in the Yerevan Research
Institute of Mathematical Machines. In 1977-1993 he worked at the
Research Institute of Economics and Planning of the Armenian State
Planning as a senior research worker, head of sector, head of the
division, deputy director on scientific works. In 1993-1999 he was
head of social-economic division of the staff of the Supreme Council,
then he was head of the economic analysis department of the staff
of the National Assembly. In 1994-1996 he was elected member of the
board of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia. In 2003-2007
he was the head of the Financial Accounting Chair of the Faculty of
Economics of the Yerevan State University.

In 1980 he was conferred a title of a laureate of the All-Union
competition on Public Sciences for the researches dedicated to the
solution of the problems of economic development.

He is a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of the Russian
Federation, correspondent-member of the Engineering Academy of the
Republic of Armenia.

He is an author of more than 130 publications.

He was elected as a deputy of the Regional Council twice of Yerevan
Soviet district.

In 1999-2003 he was elected as a deputy (proportional electoral system,
Miasnutiun/Unity ally). He was a member of the NA Standing Committee
of the Financial-Credit, Budgetary and Economic Affairs. He was a
member of Miasnutiun faction.

On May 12, 2007 he was elected as a deputy of the National Assembly
by proportional electoral system from Bargavach Hayastan/Prosperous
Armenia party.

Vardan Bostanjyan is married, and has three children.

FACEBOOK TRACKS YOUR EVERY MOVE, EMPLOYEE CLAIMS

Tert.am
11:50 ~U 21.01.10

Facebook is tracking your every move on the site – or so says one
purported Facebook employee, according to an anonymous interview with
the Rumpus, reports PC World.

In the interview, the Facebook employee, whose identity was protected
so she wouldn’t lose her job for talking to the media, also said that
Facebook employees have relatively easy access to user accounts.

Here are the highlights from the interview:

Facebook Tracks You

Every time you view a profile, look at a picture, send a message or
take any other action on Facebook, the company records that action,
according to the Facebook employee. At first glance, that sounds like a
scary prospect, but the engineer argues that the company does this to
deliver a better product. As a result of this tracking, for example,
you can get suggestions to reconnect with a Facebook friend.

The employee also claimed that as a result of Facebook’s tracking,
when you search for a friend on Facebook the auto complete function
lists your friends by the people you interact with the most.

Universal Access

There used to be a universal password that Facebook employees could use
to view any Facebook account, the anonymous employee claims. But the
password has since been discontinued, and now Facebook uses a different
system where employees must provide a reason in writing for logging
into a user’s account. If the employee cannot back up the reason they
had for accessing someone’s account the employee can be fired.

Facebook Can Read Your Messages

The employee claims that Facebook has all of your messages, deleted or
not, stored in a database that any Facebook employee can access. The
notion that your Facebook messages are stored in a database is about
as stunning a discovery as finding out my laptop has a keyboard,
writes Ian Paul in PC World.

Then again, if any Facebook employee can just query that database
to read your personal messages any time they like, well, that’s a
problem. I certainly hope Facebook has better safeguards for personal
messages than that.

So what do we make of all this? According to the author, "Personally,
I don’t think these issues are too concerning. The bigger issue
around Facebook and security isn’t with Facebook itself, but all
those third-party services that have access to your data whenever
you authorize a Facebook application."

5 THOUSAND COMPUTERS TO BE SOLD UNDER COMPUTER FOR EVERYONE PROGRAM BY MAY 2010

Noyan Tapan
Jan 21, 2010

YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. 1,300 computers were sold under
Computer for Everyone program in 2009, which exceeded the programmed
index by 500. This was the program’s pilot stage which began in Yerevan
on 22 September 2009. RA Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian said
that, when summarizing the results of 2009 at the government.

According to him, it is envisaged selling another 5,000 computers
until May 2010 – the end of the pilot program. New points of sale will
function under this program, and during the main stage the program
will cover all marzes of Armenia. Now it is being implemented in the
cities of Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor, with a total of 6 points of
sale (3 in Yerevan, 2 in Vanadzor, and one in Gyumri).

N. Yeritsian said that the ministry of economy had applied to a number
of Internet providers with the proposal to join Computer for Everyone
program, and along with the computer, to provide an Internet connection
device either free or at a reduced price and to enable the purchaser
to use the Internet free for 3-6 months. Cornet-AM and Orange Armenia
companies have given preliminary consent. Cooperation agreements have
been reached with Intel company.

Attaching great importance to ensuring computer and Internet access for
the development of Armenia’s economy, the government launched Computer
for Everyone program in 2009. The program is aimed at implementing
the stategy of IT sector’s development. Its purpose is to increase
the number of computer users in Armenia by offering modern computers
and licensed software at low prices. The program also tries to solve
an intellectual property-related problem – the use of unlicensed
software. Besides, it encourages the use of Internet among Armenian
population, which will create favorable conditions for electronic
services.